Gary Harris chose Michigan State despite facing pressure to play in his home state of Indiana

View full sizeAP PhotoIndiana coach Tom Crean did his best to convince Gary Harris to become a Hoosier, but Harris ultimately decided to become a Spartan instead.

CHICAGO -- Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell committed to Indiana in November 2010 and spent the next year trying to talk Gary Harris into joining the Hoosiers backcourt with him. But even though the two Indianapolis-area natives had known each other since the fourth grade, it was to no avail.

"I recruited him hard," Ferrell said, smiling on Tuesday as the two McDonald’s All-Americans enjoyed time together before playing against one another the following day. "I tried to get him to go to IU, but there was only so much I could do.

"I just told him, 'Look at IU. Just come here. There’s no reason not to.'"

Harris decided instead to leave the state and play for Michigan State, but it wasn’t for lack of trying from the in-state suitors of the 6-foot-4 star guard from Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind.

Crean wanted him very much and was in constant contact. There were also influences that Harris said he needed to ignore. The community hoped Harris would stay in Indiana, and he said it in fact pushed him to do so. After ultimately committing to Michigan State, someone even created a fake Twitter account for Harris that purported to express regret for not having chosen the Hoosiers instead.

"I got a lot of friends going to Indiana," Harris said. "I had to kind of block all that out.

Purdue, where his mother, Joy Harris, was an All-American basketball player, was in the mix as well. But Harris said his parents told him they would support whatever decision he made.

"Purdue, they were one of the first schools to recruit me," Harris said. "They kind of backed off a little bit, and they tried to pick it up at the end, but I still considered them down to the end."

As it turned out, the decision to choose to play for Michigan State and Tom Izzo over the others -- Kentucky included -- wasn’t actually as difficult as many might have thought.

"It was easy," said Harris, who had offered few hints during the recruiting process. "It was an easy decision to make. Izzo, he just never panicked when it came down to it. He was just always calm, his normal self when he was waiting it out. He still let me know how much he wanted me, but he still gave me my space."